Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sometime, Never | 1957 | William Golding | Buy |
| 2 | The Scorpion God | 1971 | William Golding | Buy |
William Golding’s two short story collections offer concentrated versions of his thematic interests. Sometime, Never (1957) and The Scorpion God (1971) contain novellas and stories that explore the same tensions between civilization and instinct found in his novels.
Sometime, Never is a collection of three novellas by different authors, with Golding’s contribution sitting alongside works by John Wyndham and Mervyn Peake. The Scorpion God collects three of Golding’s own novellas, including the title piece and “Envoy Extraordinary,” which he later adapted into the play The Brass Butterfly.
Both collections are short enough to read in a sitting or two. They make good companions to his major novels, giving readers a chance to see Golding work through similar ideas in compressed form. The Scorpion God in particular is worth seeking out for the connections it draws between ancient civilizations and the failures of modern ones.